Quote of the day: DoubtDoubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother. by Kahlil Gibran

Jacob Jordaens

Birthday of the day: Jacob Jordaens; Jacob Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678) was one of three Flemish Baroque painters, along with Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, to bring prestige to the Antwerp school of painting. Unlike those contemporaries he never traveled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their intellectual and courtly aspirations. In fact, except for a few short trips to locations in the Low Countries, he remained in Antwerp his entire life. As well as being a successful painter, he was a prominent designer of tapestries. Like Rubens, Jordaens painted altarpieces, mythological, and allegorical scenes, and after 1640—the year Rubens died—he was the most important painter in Antwerp for large-scale commissions and the status of his patrons increased in general. However, he is best-known today for his numerous large genre scenes based on proverbs in the manner of his contemporary Jan Brueghel the Elder, depicting The King Drinks and As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young. Jordaens’s main artistic influences, besides Rubens and the Brueghel family, were northern Italian painters such as Jacopo Bassano, Paolo Veronese, and Caravaggio.

Joke of the day: Through the pitch-black night, the captain sees a light dead ahead on a collision course with his ship. He sends a signal: ‘Change your course 10 degree east.’ The light signals back: ‘Change yours, 10 degrees west.’ Angry, the captain sends: ‘I’m a navy captain! Change your course, sir!’ ‘I’m a seaman, second class,’ comes the reply. ‘Change your course, sir.’ Now the captain is furious. ‘I’m a battleship! I’m not changing course!? There is one last reply. ‘I’m a lighthouse. Your call!’

Thought of the day: True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read.

Biography of the day: Pedro Albizu Campos; Pedro Albizu Campos (12 Sept. 1891-21 Apr. 1965), lawyer and nationalist, was born in the district of Machuelo Abajo, Puerto Rico, the son of Alejandro ‘El Vizca?no’ Albizu Romero, a Basque merchant, and Juliana Campos, a mesti?a of Spanish, Native American, and African heritage. After completing high school in Ponce, Albizu Campos received a scholarship from the University of Vermont, where he enrolled in 1912 to study chemistry. In 1913 he transferred to Harvard University and worked as a translator (he was fluent in eight languages) and a writer for the Christian Science Monitor.

Article of the day: Tetrarch; The Tetrarch, a British light tank with a 2-pounder gun, was deployed in the Second World War. Vickers-Armstrongs produced over 100 of them, but the tanks had design flaws and most remained in Britain. Twenty were sent to the USSR as part of the Lend-Lease program. In early 1941 one Royal Armoured Corps squadron used in overseas amphibious operations was equipped with Tetrarchs, and in May 1942 a few joined the British force invading Madagascar. During the British airborne landings in Normandy in June 1944, the 6th Airborne Division used around 20 Tetrarchs, but those not lost in accidents proved to be inferior in firepower and armour to the German armoured fighting vehicles. The tanks were removed from direct engagement with German armour, and all were replaced with Cromwell cruiser tanks and M22 Locusts by December. Tetrarchs did not see any further combat, and the last was retired in 1950. There were several variations on the design, including the Alecto self-propelled gun and the Light Tank Mk VIII, but none of these were used in active service with the British Army.

Did you know: a) that although Kevin Daft set two records in NFL Europe, he was released by the Tennessee Titans in August 2002? b) that Max Bell went from making $35 per week at a Calgary newspaper during the Great Depression to owning Canada’s largest newspaper syndicate in 1965? c) that due to the sexually explicit content of Saman, Ayu Utami’s debut novel, her mother refused to read it to her father? d) that while the 19th-century writer Samuel Lewis described the Welsh church of St Mary, Tal-y-llyn (pictured) as ‘a small edifice of no interest’, it is now one of the most highly rated listed buildings in the country?